


don't you ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash

by ghostlyeris



Series: Valeyard Thirteen [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dark Thirteenth Doctor, Gen, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, POV Original Character, Thirteenth Doctor is The Valeyard, thats right babey this is a valeyard au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:00:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlyeris/pseuds/ghostlyeris
Summary: The woman wasn't like any adult she had ever met. There was an earnestness when she agreed to the terms like there wasn't anything to think about. It juxtaposed her five minutes ago, putting a bullet through a man's head simply for speaking. She was interesting.Dolores liked interesting."Dolores," the blonde seemed to say to herself, enunciating each syllable like an insult. After a moment, she asked "What about Dolly? I quite like that.""Dolly. Alright."The blonde crossed the room and took her hand, a mimicry of a handshake. An agreement to a Faustian deal where the terms were unclear. "Well Dolly, it's nice to meet you. I'm the Valeyard."-Even the Valeyard needs a companion.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & Original Character(s), Thirteenth Doctor & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Valeyard Thirteen [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158626
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	don't you ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash

"Another step and his brains blow out."

There was no point in looking up from the computer as she hollered out the threat. The individual identity of whoever had entered wasn’t all that important; likely yet another round of guards attempting to stop her. Unfortunately, she had gotten a little more clever after the last attempt and a lot more ruthless. The bodies littering the floor could attest to that.

Her hostage flinched out of the corner of her eye, trembling on his knees. She wasn’t all that focused on him, only giving him about 13% of her attention. It would have been less but she didn’t want to risk him attempting to disarm her. With her back to the wall corner, it would have been easy to pin her against it. But she wouldn’t let that happen; adults wouldn’t get to touch her ever again.

Those stupid schematics were somewhere on this forsaken computer, she knew they were. She could navigate the third floor with her eyes closed, but if she was to even get in the vague proximity of the ships, she needed the floor plans. Maybe she would have found them faster if the stench of spilled organs didn't permeate the room, but it was too late to un-pull _that_ trigger so she'd live with it.

"That threat is only effective if I have a vested interest in his survival." That— wasn’t the response she had expected. The scientists were the most important people on site, so holding an assistant hostage no one remembered the name of was still quite the leverage to have.

She looked up to the source of the voice and saw a blonde woman leaning in the doorway on the opposite side of the room. Any other person would have mistaken her for a staff member; she almost looked the part. Full uniform, pressed shirt, clean slacks, regulation heels, ID badge prim and proper. She fit in with the cold environment of the room, like you could walk past her sitting at any one of the desks in the room or bent over the file cabinets against the wall and not blink twice. But there were subtle things that set her apart, marking her as **_danger_**. The tilt to her head, the look in her eyes, the cock of her hips. The weapon hidden by her side.

"You're not faculty."

The blonde uncrossed her arms and gave the clipped-on ID a tap. "My badge says otherwise."

"Faculty don't carry weapons anymore." She licked her bared teeth and cocked the gun pressed against the assistant’s temple. "Too many incidents."

A look ran through the blonde’s eyes. She couldn't tell what type of look it was. She hoped it was good. Would be a shame to put in all that work then die here, another body in the pile of collateral.

"What's your name?"

"C-31916." The forgotten assistant piped up. The staff always took advantage of situations to show off their work, even in deadly circumstances.

"I asked her name."

The assistant wrinkled his nose. "She doesn't have one."

Fuck this. "Shut. Up."

The assistant started bargaining with her again like he had done twenty minutes ago. It wasn’t any less annoying this time but drowning it out wouldn’t be particularly hard. She hadn’t listened to anything the faculty said for years. "If you're reasonable about this, I'm sure they won't put you back in solitary for long. A few years at mo-"

A gunshot rang out, startling her away from the desk into the corner. The wall was splattered with fresh blood and brains, dirtying the only white patch left. Her focus was solely on the blonde however, who had peeled herself off the wall, gun cradled tenderly in her right hand.

"So, your name?"

She gripped her gun tighter, refusing to look away or shift her focus. "Dolores. Before all this anyways. Never liked it much but it's all I have left so..."

"Where are your parents, Dolores?" The blonde asked, a curious lilt to the question.

"About six inches to your left. My guardian anyway. Mother’s been dead for years." The blonde raised a single eyebrow.

"Must have been a poor guardian for a fate like this." She watched the blonde nudge the still-warm corpse with the toe of her regulation heels.

"A wretched one."

The blonde circled around the room, noticeably leaving the corner she had huddled in alone. The corpses seemed to hold some interest to the woman, though she couldn't imagine why. They weren't particularly impressive scientists when they were alive and held little value dead.

"An awfully lot of dead bodies for this to just be revenge for some horrible parenting. By the security guards and your frantic typing, I'd say that you're trying to leave. By any means necessary."

Seeing her intentions stripped bare should have been terrifying. It was terrifying; but it was also impressive. Whoever this blonde was wasn't like anyone she had met before.

"Was that a question?"

"A statement." The blonde stopped circling, back in her starting position against the doorway. "Now here's my question: would you like to come with me?"

"You have a way out?"

"I do. My own ship even."

That did sound promising. "Are you going to murder me?"

The blonde let out a short laugh. "If I was, I wouldn't tell you. But I wasn't planning on it. I like you, Dolores. You're interesting."

On the one hand, the blonde had already murdered someone in cold blood seemingly with no remorse. On the other hand, so had she. And she really wanted out of the facility. "Alright."

A smile curled across the blonde’s face. "Did no one ever teach you stranger danger?"

"I'm hedging my bets." She tucked her gun back into its holster, letting the blonde watch her do it. "At least if you murder me, it'll be more exciting."

"Where would you like to go?"

Like she knew anything outside of the facility. "Anywhere that isn't here." Maybe years ago, she would have remembered one of the places she had been to or read about. Now, she didn't care.

"I could take you to the end of the universe. Or a star going supernova. Leave you there and watch you burn."

"As long as it's interesting."

The blonde's smile widened into a grin, teeth bared for her to see. "Now you're a fun one, aren't you? Would you like to travel with me, Dolores? Not just one trip but to see it all, every war, every supernova, every fall of every civilization."

That sounded fun. More fun than she had gotten to have in a long time. Good things like this didn't happen to her. "Why?"

The blonde shrugged nonchalantly. "I like having a companion, and you don't seem like the type to die easily."

Fair enough. "One condition. I don't care who you hurt or why, but no children."

"Deal. No children."

The woman wasn't like any adult she had ever met. There was an earnestness when she agreed to the terms like there wasn't anything to think about. It juxtaposed her five minutes ago, putting a bullet through a man's head simply for speaking. She was interesting.

Dolores _liked_ interesting.

"Dolores," the blonde seemed to say to herself, enunciating each syllable like an insult. After a moment, she asked "What about Dolly? I quite like that."

"Dolly. Alright."

The blonde crossed the room and took her hand, a mimicry of a handshake. An agreement to a Faustian deal where the terms were unclear. "Well Dolly, it's nice to meet you. I'm the Valeyard."

**Author's Note:**

> ten points to anyone who guesses which literary character dolores is named after. come hit me up on tumblr (ghostlyeris) if you wanna talk about anything doctor who. 
> 
> title is from arsonist's lullaby by hozier.


End file.
